To Be
by Dark Reborn
Summary: After the Gate on both sides is destoryed, what will the Elric brothers do? Suddenly, a girl claims to know how to return to Amestris. Is she telling the truth, or is she hiding something? Better than it sounds. RXR please. on hold, MAJOR writer's block!
1. Prologue

This is my first fanfic. All reviews are welcome! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Full Metal Alchemist is not mine.

Noontime was the busiest time in Munich. People were bustling everywhere to do things ranging from selling goods to delivering a message, or just having fun and talking to their friends. Ed and Al were walking to a mechanic's shop to get some oil for Ed's automail. A person passed them. Suddenly Ed stopped.

"Al, did you just see that?" Ed asked.

"See what?" Al stopped, too. "All I see is people doing their everyday things."

"Envy." There was malice in that word. Ed started to move in a different direction than the one to the mechanic's shop. Al grabbed Ed's shoulders to halt him.

"Wait Brother, stop and think for a moment, how could Envy be here? He's a green dragon and he can't shape-shift as long as he is trapped at his side of the Gate, remember?" Ed ignored his brother's pleading.

"I don't care. All I care about is that I. Just. Saw. Envy!" growled Ed. He tried to shrug Al's hand off, but Al only held on tighter. "Al, let go before I lose track of him." That was said with forced calmness.

"Are you sure that was Envy?" questioned Al, trying one last time to stop his brother from running into trouble.

"Yes, that was Envy. That person had long dark hair, and was wearing short dark clothes." With a sudden burst of energy, he tore Al's hand from him and ran in pursuit. Al ran after him.

When Al caught up to Ed. He was panting. It was late in the afternoon. They had been running for an hour now.

"Brother, are you sure you're right?" Al carefully asked.

"Yes," Ed defiantly answered "that is defiantly Envy." Envy ducked into an alley.

"Now's our chance." Ed ran into the ally and tackled him to the ground. "Alright Envy, how did you do it?"

"Excuse me, but I think you have mistaken me for someone else. I don't think my name's Envy, and what exactly did this person do to make you act like this?" said the person on the ground.

"What?" Ed owlishly blinked. He let the person up. He could clearly see the person now. First of all, he was not a he. He was a she. Second, although her hair was dark colored, it was obviously not green and shared a great resemblance to a palm tree. Only the bangs were spiky-like. Third, she didn't have the smirk that Envy usually had on his face. And fourth, she didn't have the Ouroboros mark on her.

"Ha, Brother, I told you it wasn't Envy!" Al said, triumphantly.

"Alright, alright, so I made a mistake." Ed grudgingly said. "But she does look like Envy." He added.

"You should apologize." Prodded Al.

"Stop it, Al!" Ed grumbled, "I'm not." Al glared at Ed. "Okay, okay, I'll apologize." He turned directly to the person and said, "I'm sorry. There, I said it. You can go home now."

"Apology accepted. Now, who's this Envy person that you mistook me for?" the girl asked.

"Brother, should we tell her?" Al whispered.

"No." Ed whispered back and in a louder voice, he said, "It's none of your business."

"Yes it is. You mistook me for a person that I have no idea who he or she is."

"You don't need to know."

"So, just tell me."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

The banter continued until Ed gave up and agreed to tell her.

"Oh, why not, it's not like we're going back anyway. The gate's destroyed. But Al, you're telling her." Ed said. Al happily complied, glad that they settled the argument.

"Let's see, where to start." He said. "It's quite a long story. Why don't you come to our apartment? The story might take a while."

The girl appeared to think about it for some time, and then agreed.

There was silence; only a clock's gentle ticking on the wall was to be heard. Then it broke.

"So, what exactly do these transmutation circles look like?" the girl asked. Al rummaged on his desk for a piece of spare paper. Ed had fallen asleep in the middle of the narration.

"Here, this is a transmutation circle looks like." He drew one on the paper. "This one, for example, is for creating fire in the air."

"Like the one that Colonel what's-his-name had on his gloves had of ignition cloth, or something?"

"Yes and his name is Mustang. Colonel Mustang. Al paused and looked outside. "Won't you're parents be worried about you?"

The girl's eyes avoided him. "No." For the first time, she looked like she was uncomfortable in his presence.

"Really?" Al was surprised.

"They're away." She quietly answered.

"Where?"

"They're gone to somewhere. I don't know where."

"I'm sorry." Al was sympathetic now.

"Don't be, they're better off without me."

"How can that be?"

There was a pause, and then the girl decided that the conversation was getting too personal for her. She swiftly changed the subject.

"I think I saw a transmutation circle somewhere in the town."

"Really? Where?" Al was excited. All thoughts about the girl's past were gone. The last time he saw a transmutation circle on this side of the Gate that was not drawn by him or his brother was the one that opened the Gate on this side, but that wouldn't work anymore. The one the girl mentioned couldn't be the one that Eckhart used. That area was guarded too carefully. If there was another circle here it might help them get home! "Can you show me right now?"

"I would show you where it is right now, but its pretty far away, all the way across town and it's already nightfall." Al sighed. She had a point, the story did take a long time and it was dark already. Trying to be patient, he thought_ Brother and I have been waiting for five years, we can wait for one more day._ He motioned to his bed.

"You can use it. I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, I'll sleep on the floor, you live here after all." She protested. Al tried to persuade her to use the bed and he use the floor, but she kept on protesting, until at last, they agreed that Al would share a bed with Ed, and she would sleep on Al's bed.

In the morning, Al told Ed the news and Ed insisted that they went now, but the girl warned them.

"I would advise you to eat now. It's all the way across town." Ed wasn't happy, but he knew she was right.

After they ate, the girl asked, "Do you want to go the fast way, which is a little dangerous, or do you want to go the slow way, which is completely safe."

"Wouldn't the dangerous way be, well, dangerous for you?" asked Al. The girl shook her head.

"No, I've done it countless times before. I'm just worried about you two."

"Are you sure about this?" the girl asked worriedly. She had just explained what the fast way was and what the slow way was. The fast way was jumping on the rooftops of the houses and shops. You could fall and break an arm or leg, or worse. The slow way was just walking across town, which was completely safe.

"We'll be fine." Ed said impatiently. "Right Al?" Al just nodded and sighed. Sometimes his brother could be a _little_ reckless.

They took a left turn into an alley. The girl pointed at hole in the ground.

"We're going in that. Any protests?" There was none. "Good." And then, jumped in. "Yes! I love this." She exclaimed. Her voice faded away. About a minute later, there was a soft thump. "Hey are you guys coming or what? Just jump. It's perfectly safe.

"Brother, are you sure about this?" Al had explained what happened last night to Ed.

"Yes," but he didn't look to sure himself. Jumping down into a hole with the thought of he didn't know what was at the other end doesn't really appease to him, even if it was tested already.

"Oh, what am I waiting for?" And he jumped.

"Brother, wait for me!" And Al jumped, too.

The tunnel ran sharply down until it was nearly vertical. Add in the minute time span, you get a whirlwind of terror. Just when Ed when about to seriously panic, he landed to see a girl laughing.

"Oh, you should have seen you face!" she choked out, "it was priceless!" Al slid to stop next to Ed.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Ye-" Ed cut her off. "No, you didn't." He turned his head to face the girl. "Now, where's the transmutation circle you were talking about?"

"Oh, right this way." She ran into one of the 3 tunnels in the wall. "Are you coming of not?" said her voice, echoing in the tunnel. The two brothers glanced at each other and ran after her.

"How long is this tunnel anyways?" whined Ed. They had been going on for a long time now.

"Not long."

Pretty soon, a white speck appeared. As it grew larger, Ed and Al saw a huge room. The walls were all smoothed to make a dome appearance. And right there in the middle was what they had been looking for, the transmutation circle. It covered the whole floor. Ed's breath was blown away by its complexity. Al was already kneeling on the floor retracing the circle with chalk.

"Brother, come and help me." Al broke into Ed's thoughts. Ed withdrew a piece of chalk from his pocket and began retracing the circle, too.

"Um, can I help?" she asked.

"Yes, if you want." Al said, and snapped his chalk in half and handed a half to her. "All you have to do is trace the circle over. The important thing is to trace it precisely." She nodded.

"There, finally done!" Ed smiled. "Reminds you of the old times, doesn't it Al?"

"Yeah," Al said softly, "but do you think it will work? We did trace it over, but we still can't use alchemy on this side of the Gate."

"Oh, let's just try it for the sake of it the old times." Ed knelt down and placed his hands and the circles edge. Al was right next to him doing the same.

"Um, should I do that too?" asked the only person that wasn't kneeling on the ground.

"Sure, it's not like it's going to work. As Al said, alchemy can't be used on this side of the Gate. It can only be used on the other side, which is impossible to go to anymore since we destroyed the Gate on this side and I bet Mustang did the same on the other side." Said Ed. The girl knelt down too, mirroring the brothers. Ed and Al exchanged glances.

"Ready Al?" asked Ed. Al nodded. Then they said in unison, "One, two, three." They pressed down on the ground.

"I guess it really doesn't work." Said Ed sadly. "Oh well, it wasn't supposed to anyways. Suddenly, the circle began to glow blue.

"Brother, I wouldn't say that too soon." Al exclaimed. The light flared and enveloped the whole room.

The Gate appeared in the middle of the circle. It creaked open, black hands stretched out and grabbed the three. Thousands of eyes looked at them. There was muttering. The three could very faintly distinguish what they were saying. They were saying something about a toll, a payment. Ed and Al where wearing horrified expressions and the girl had a confused and horrified expression. Now, they were being pulled in, frozen in shock. The Gate slowly creaked closed, and disappeared.

"Brother! What are we supposed to do? The circle wasn't supposed to work. We didn't bring anything to pay for the toll!" yelled Al, but Ed couldn't hear him, they three were separated in the Gate.

"Al, Al, where did he go?" Ed was frantically calling Al's name. "Where did that girl go to, too?"

"Brother are you alright?" asked Al worriedly. They had just come out of the Gate. In the distance, thunder crashed

"I suppose," grumbled Ed, "Where's that girl?" He got up and started walking around, looking for her.

"Oh no!" Al was mortified, "I forgot all about her!" Then he began running around looking for her too. Later, Ed felt something tap on his shoulder. He glanced, and then inwardly groaned. It was raining.

"Al, we better find her quick. It's starting to rain." Ed told Al, quickening his pace. They frantically searched. Finally, Ed called out, "Al, I found her! Hurry! She's not looking too good." That was a huge exaggeration. Al soon found that out. When he came to the scene, Ed was adjusting the unconscious girl onto his back.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Al's face was pale. The girl's arm was missing and bleeding, thickly.

"We need to find some shelter and find out where exactly are we." Ed stepped away in a direction. "Come on, we need to find a tree or something."

The two searched and was granted by the sight of a huge tree looming in front of them. It was perfect for shelter. It was so massive that an area around the base was entirely dry, and nearby, there was a pine tree where they could gather some pine needles to lay on. They quickly constructed a makeshift bed and set the girl onto it. They could now see that the bleeding had slackened. Ed white shirt and brown vest was covered with blood on the right side now.

"Al, we can't do anything, can we?"

"No, Brother. We can't do anything except rest and wait for the rain to stop."

"Brother, wake up." Al shook Ed. Ed swatted his hand away. "Brother!" With a groan, Ed cracked his eye open, taking note of their surroundings.

"Al, where are we? We're not at home." He yawned. Then realization hit him like a bullet. "Al! The rain stopped! Why didn't you wake me?"

"I tried, but you kept on saying five more minutes." They fought a bit more for a minute or two. Then Ed interrupted the argument.

"Oh, what are we doing, we need to get moving, now!" They both talked for a while deciding on what to do. They agreed on Al scouting the area since they didn't think that the people nearby, if there were any, would want to help if they saw Ed's bloodied shirt.

Soon, Al came running back. "Brother, Brother, we're in Resembool!" He came shouting. "We're back home! We're back home!"

"Al, stop joking. Now really, where are we?" said Ed seriously.

"I'm not joking!" protested Al. "Take a look around." Ed inspected their surroundings. The houses, the trees, the valley side, they all seemed familiar. Sure, it was a little different, but it was Resembool. Suddenly, Ed was nervous.

"Al, if we're in Resembool, which means that Winry's here too!" Ed said horrified. He winced noticeably. He could imagine it now, Winry holding a wrench and yelling at him for being gone so long, and then hitting his head with the wrench causing him to have a concussion.

"Well, we have no choice. We have to face her anyways." Al commented. "Besides, we can get automail for the girl." Ed grumbled for a bit, and then unhappily agreed. Trust Al to find the worst decision and make it seem like a good one with logic.

They waited until nighttime.

"We should be there in about 15 minutes or so." Said Al.

"Just as long as we get there." Ed grumbled.

_Knock. Knock._

"Grandma, can you go get the door?" called Winry from inside the house. Footsteps approached the door.

"Yes?" Then, the pipe dropped from the woman's mouth when she realized who it was. Al caught her before she could fall to the ground.

"Grandma, who is it?" Winry came stomping downstairs. Immediately, she had a wrench in her hand, ran to the ones at the door, and hit them all on the head. When she was going to hit the girl, she stopped.

"Who is she? I don't think I know her. And her arm! How could you do that to the poor girl!" Winry continued the wrench banging with no mercy. Finally Ed spoke up between the wrench throw.

"Winry, if don't think this is a good idea. We need to get this girl treated as soon as possible." Winry stopped, realizing the seriousness of the injury.

"Come this way!" Winry let them to a room and then shooed the boys out.

"Grandma! I need help here!" Pinako went rushing into the room and closed the door.

"Brother, the only thing we can do now is," Al was cut off.

"Yeah. The only thing can do now is wait. Again."

Hours passed. Ed had lost track of the time. Al had fallen asleep. He deserved it, but Ed was wide-awake. He couldn't sleep. He was thinking about what Winry said. It was his fault that the girl was injured, and he didn't even know her name! All she did was help him and his brother. And what she gets back was the exact opposite! At last, the closed door opened. Pinako came out.

"Well, boys. It seems like she lost a lot of blood, but the wound itself was not too bad overall since it's the same as yours was and now we know how to treat it. Winry came out.

"You can come in and see her, but don't expect an answer yet." She warned. The two went in. What they saw was the girl neatly bandaged, sleeping on the bed. Thankfully, looking healthy. Ed looked close to the girl's face. Then, he yelped.

"Brother, what's wrong?" The girl moved.

"Ed, Al? What happened?"

"We were at the transmutation circle when it activated, remember?" She frowned.

"Sorry, but I don't think I remember. Now, to think about it, I don't remember anything besides your names. I don't even remember my own name."

"Then well just have to give you a name, right?" Al excitedly asked.

"Fine, but it has to be a reasonable name. No ridiculous names. If I don't like it or think it unreasonable, then it is not going to be my name. Got it?"

They nodded.

The group tried to find a name for the girl, but none of them matched her. Before long, Pinako noticed it was nighttime already.

"Alright everybody, go to bed, its dark outside already." There was some grumbling.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Ed asked. The room he just came out of was the room he usually slept in when he was staying at the Rockbell's house.

"You can sleep on the couch downstairs."

"Why the couch?" Ed complained, but he was too tired to actually protest.

"All done!" Winry proudly showed everyone the new automail arm she made for the girl. It was like Ed's except it was smoother and slimmer. Winry positioned the arm next to the port she installed the other day. "Ready?" The girl nodded. Winry connected the arm to the port. The air hissed as it forced itself between the clenched teeth as the nerves connected themselves. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as the girl thought it would.

"Ed, Al, help me get her onto the bed." The two hurried to help Winry. After that, Winry went to the door.

"Come on, we don't want to wake her." The girl had gone to sleep. Ed and Al followed Winry and the room was empty except for the girl. The girl opened one eye. She looked around. There was nobody to be seen. She quietly got out of the bed and quickly ran across the hall outside of her room looking for an open window. She found one and jumped down, flipping in midair before landed softly on the ground.

Later, chaos would spread.

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Thanks for reading the Prologue of _To Be_! Please review.


	2. Chapter 1

Chatper 1 of _To Be_ is up! Yay!

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"Ed, Al, the girl's gone!" Winry shrieked when she saw the empty bed.

"But that's impossible!" said Al "She only had her automail attached two hours ago!" Ed was already running downstairs.

"Auntie Pinako! I'm going out for a while." Winry and Al quickly followed suite.

_Now, if I were hiding, where would I hide?_ Ed thought. _The riverside!_ He wasn't sure if the girl would go there, but it was worth a try. He skidded to a stop at the riverbank. There was no sign of the girl. Ed turned back. When he was far, but not so far that he couldn't see the river, a flash of movement caught his eye. The escapee was crawling out of the river, spitting a hollow reed out of her mouth. Ed smirked; he now knew where she was. He swiftly ran and transmuted an earthen hand. It trapped her.

"LEMME OUT YOU SHORTY!" the girl yelled, as she tried to loosen the hand's grip on her.

"WHO'S SO SMALL THAT HE COULD HID IN A RIVER AND NEVER BE FOUND?!" Ed waved his arms to emphasize his point, not noticing that the girl had broken loose from the hand. The girl dived back into the river.

"Better luck next time!" she said over her shoulder, but before she could swam away, another gigantic earth hand fished her out and trapped her, this time her arms included. Then, a wrench came spinning through the air and hit Ed in the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Edward Elric, where were you? We were looking for you everywhere!" Winry screeched, punctuating each word with a stomp.

"Brother, there you are! And what have you been doing? Your clothes are muddy. The girl's clothes are muddy _and_ wet." Al came running.

"So it was you who conjured up this hand." The girl said venomously at Al. "Let. Me. Out." Al didn't know what to say.

"Only if you agree to go back to the house and not run away again." Ed said.

"No."

"Well, then you'll just have to stay here forever."

"Brother, we can't do that!" Ed ignored Al.

"Have we got a deal?" The girl didn't like the situation, but she had no choice.

"Fine." Ed loosened the hand so the girl could free herself.

"Did you find a solution?" asked Winry. She had been watching the argument with amusement. Her question was answered when the girl sulkily walked with them back to the house.

One Year Later

"Sir, please finish you paperwork." Riza said, threateningly hold her gun.

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." Roy said. To a passerby, the office would look it always been for over five years, but in reality, Roy was not behind in his paperwork. He was actually ahead of his paperwork. He has been like that for the past five years ever since Lior had been another alchemic target, ever since the discovery of the underground city, and ever since the Elric brothers' mysterious disappearance. The public didn't know what actually happened. They didn't need to know that the brothers had went to this other world through a gate that was destroyed in both worlds, which made journeys in-between them impossible. It was irreversible, one-way trip.

Havoc came in and saluted.

"Sir, I have three more entrance forms for the State Alchemy Exams."

"Put them on my desk." The Fuhrer didn't even look up from his paperwork.

"Yes sir." Havoc put them near the masses of paperwork and saluted again before leaving the room. Roy glanced at the forms now. Hitomu Hibiki, Hitomu Genji, Hazuki Kirarena.

First Day of the State Alchemy Exams- Written

"You may all began." Papers flipped and pencils started writing. The State Alchemy Exams had begun. All of the people in the Exam were seated alphabetically in order. The Fuhrer gave a sigh. Sitting through the written part of the Exams did not appease to him. He pointlessly looked at the people, seeing if they were concentrating on the papers or not. Everyone was concentrating so far.

"Half time." Half of the time for the written test had passed. Everybody was shifting in his or her seats for sitting so long, with the exception of three people. Roy lazily checked the list he had showing whom sat in what chair. It said the three people were Hitomu Hibiki, Hitomu Genji, and Hazuki Kirarena. A weak ray of sunlight filtered through the window flashed as it reflected off metal, catching some people's attention. Hitomu Hibiki was slowly taking off his brown coat, revealing an automail right arm. Roy noticed that he had odd-looking clothes: a white shirt, with a mud brown vest and the same brown pants, with a lighter brown coat that was really long. He also had long black hair that was tied up in a high ponytail. Roy looked at the brother. He was also wearing odd-looking clothes, a very light brown jacket with a plain white shirt and mud brown pants.

Before long, the official called out, "Time's up, finish your sentences and hand them in." A young woman stood up, pushed her chair in, and handed her test in. Then, she walked to the entrance and waited for her friends to finish. But, mostly everybody was franticly writing, trying to finish his or her own tests. When two young men, one slightly shorter than the other, finished their tests and handed them in, the young woman removed herself from her position, which was leaning against the wall, and they all turned to leave. Then, a man spoke up.

"Girls can't be state alchemists, its too hard for them. Why don't you join the other girls and leave the state jobs to men." Some other men encouraged the man. The trio stopped and turned around. The two young men were angrily glaring and stepped forward. The shorter one more aggressively, but the woman motioned to them that she could handle this on her own. She stepped forward, face showing no emotion.

"And why can't they?" she coolly asked.

"Girl's are weak, like you."

"Prove it."

"Girls cannot stand state jobs like men can. You should know that, you little girl. You're just a puny, wimpy, defenseless, little girl." At that, the two young men, tightened their already clenched fists, but the woman motioned them to calm down. Now, her eyes flashed dangerously and next sentences were not spoken with the coolness in the previous sentences. They were spoken with coldness like the deepest snow and behind it; there was a malice that burned like a fiery fire.

"Let me tell you a little something I learned over the years that you obviously didn't." Her words rang throughout the room. "Both men and woman are equivalent. There is not one difference in their soul. Also, there no scientific law that says that woman can only be what men say they only can be." When she finished what she said, she turned her heel and walked away, but not before lastly saying, "And I know a young boy who finished the whole test and scored the highest out of everybody." Then, the young woman and the two young men walked away.

"Y-you're lying!" sputtered the man who had said woman were inferior to men. "You're lying! And I know you are, because it's impossible to finish the test, especially for a mere boy!"

"No, what the young lady said was true, there was a young boy who finished the test and scored the highest. That happened a long time ago. If the boy was here today, he would've been a young man by now." Roy had spoken up.

"Where is he now?" a young man asked. Roy hesitated before speaking again.

"He went far away, so far that nobody knew exactly where he was, never to come back." His single eye was a little misty when he said that, thinking about the past. He stopped thinking about that for a moment to say, "Alright, that's all, come back tomorrow for the second part of the Exams."

It was obvious that they were dismissed, but the young man who asked the question about the little boy walked up to Roy and asked, "What was his name?"

Roy replied, "Why don't you ask the young lady for his and his older brother's name?" referring to the young woman that stated that a little boy finished the whole test and scored the highest out of everybody as a fact.

"He had an older brother?" Roy only smiled.

"Excuse me! Wait! Excuse me!"

"Kira, I think somebody is calling for you." Genji said. They turned around to see a young man running up to them.

"Excuse me miss, my name's Washi, Oki Washi. I need to ask you something. Who was the boy that finished the test and scored that highest? And what was his older brother's name?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know? And how do you know he had an older brother?" Hibiki asked cautiously.

The young man shrugged, "I don't know, I asked the one-eyed soldier and he said to ask you.

"Really? Did you know that was the Fuhrer?"

"That was the Fuhrer? Oh no, I wouldn't have asked him if I know he was the Fuhrer! I'm don't think I'm supposed to talk to him! I'm not even sure if I'll pass the Exams. And even if I do, I'm not sure if I would be able to talk to him either!" He said all that very quickly. Kira, seeing his alarmed expression, reassured him.

"Don't worry, tomorrow I'll ask him to blame me if you're in trouble. After all, it was me who started it all." He calmed down.

"Oh, thank you, but, um, are you sure?" Kira cocked her head to the side.

"Do you think I can't? Of course I can."

"Thank you! So, um, who were that boy and his older brother?" Kira didn't know what to say. Hibiki then answered it for her.

"The younger brother was Alphonse Elric and the older brother was Edward Elric." Washi's jaw dropped open.

"_The_ Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist? The hero of the people? The military alchemist who sided with the people? The one who discovered the underground city? The one that Colonel Mustang sent to lots of missions to look for a Philosopher's Stone?" He continued to list all of Edward's accomplishments until Kira interrupted.

"So Washi, where are you staying in Central?"

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Please please review! looks at readers with puppy eyes


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of _To Be_ is up! Please read and review at the end. Enjoy!

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Second Day of the State Alchemy Exams- Questioning

Loud knocking woke up Hibiki and Genji.

"Hibiki, Genji, wake up! We have to go now! Winry just called and said that she's coming this afternoon. We have to go now!" Hibiki only groaned. "Hibiki! Genji! Wake up! Now!"

"I'm up, I'm up!" Hibiki groaned. "Genji, it's time to get up."

"Brother, I'm already up. It's you who needs to get up." Genji was already out of his pajamas and dressed up to go and was now dragging Hibiki out of the bed.

Outside, Kira and Washi could hear what was going on inside. Bangs and crashes and muffled voices were coming from the door. Finally, the two came out from the room.

"Took you long enough. There are probably a lot of people there already. And we're supposed to meet Winry later. Come on." She pushed everybody out of the hotel and took off running.

"Last one there has to treat Winry to Rush Valley!"

"Hey, no fair Kira!" Hibiki chased after her.

"Wait for me Brother!"

"Hey, wait for me too!"

Kira and Hibiki tied for first and Genji and Washi were tied for second.

"Poor Winry. She doesn't get to go to Rush Valley. Everybody was tied." Kira pouted. "Oh well." The group joined the line to where they were going to be questioned.

It was Washi's turn. He was nervous.

"You'll be fine." Said Kira.

It almost was Hibiki's turn. Kira was worried.

"Hibiki, what if they recognize you and or Genji?" she whispered.

"They won't, I have black hair with dark brown eyes, Genji is the same, we're wearing the clothes we have from the other world, and we've changed a little." He passed through the doors.

"I'm worried about Brother." Kira reassured Genji.

"Don't worry, he's been through this before, remember?" It was Genji's turn to go in. She gave him a light shove. He nervously went in.

"Your friend that just went in took the Exams before?" came a vice from behind Kira. It was the man from before. She ignored him.

"He must have failed. He's probably failed more than once." Kira still ignored him.

"Hey, pay attention when I'm talking to you!" He was still ignored. He snapped. He curled his fingers to make a fist and brought it up. Then, the fist began to go downward. It connected. A loud crack filled the air. There was a cry of pain.

"Aww look, you broke my automail." Kira feigned despair. There was a 3-inch long crack on the surface. "My mechanic's going to kill me." She scratched a transmutation circle onto the metal plate, flashing the surrounding people a smile. "I'll just quickly fix it and trust you all to not tell her. She hates alchemy done on the automail. It's a secret." She waved, and vanished behind the doors, leaving behind stares.

Once the doors closed behind her, the happy façade evaporated, turning into a serious expression. There was a giant transmutation circle on the floor with a gold chair in the middle.

"Kira how was your questioning?" Hibiki asked, as Kira emerged from the exit doors.

"It was too long." She answered back stretching in sunlight. "Where are Genji and Washi?

"Genji went to pick up Winry a while ago and they went shopping. Poor him. Having to go shopping with her. They should be here any minute. And Washi went back to the hotel he said he was tired." Pretty soon, the "two" shoppers came. Both of them were laden with bags.

"Winry, how much did you buy? And is that all clothes?" Hibiki asked.

"No, some of them are jewelry."

Only when the group went to the hotel and Winry and Genji gratefully put down their bags did Kira and Hibiki realize exactly how much Winry bought. Hibiki gaped at the mass amounts of clothes. Kira was leaning against the wall looking unconcerned, but one could tell she was disturbed.

"Who first, who first?" Winry wondered. "I know!" She grabbed Kira and some bags and dragged them, person and all, to the bathroom. Then, Kira registered what had just happened.

"LEMME OUT!" she screeched. She yanked the door open, which gave her a big purple bruise to nurse. She stumbled back in. When her head stopped spinning, she opened the door only to find it barred on the other side.

"Not until you try on all the clothes. After each outfit, you come out and let me see what it looks like one you." Winry's voice replied. "You can only skip the clothes I tell you to. If you do that without me telling you, that wouldn't be good, and we don't want that. Tomorrow is the most important day. You have to make a good impression." Kira gave a groan and slid down the side of the door. It was going to be a long day.

Hibiki and Genji were outside the open door of Kira's hotel room, after going through their own tortuous clothes trying, to hear arguing inside.

"Winry, I am _not _going to wear this tomorrow, nor ever!"

"But it looks nice on you! You should wear different colored clothes more often."

"No."

"But you should. It's the truth."

They entered to see Kira wearing a red tank top with a darker red pants. Kira squeaked, and rushed back into the bathroom. Winry smirked.

"You do know that all of the clothes are out here, right?" A silent wailing could be heard from inside the room. Kira slowly came out, grabbed her usual clothes and rushed back. When she came out, she stepped up to Winry.

"No crazy colors of any kind. You came keep those for yourself. Black and gray will suit me just fine." Winry sighed. She couldn't talk Kira out of that one.

"Fine." They argued about what Kira should wear tomorrow over the, thankfully for Kira, few black and gray clothes. Finally, they settled down to a choice of one outfit.

"Now, the jewelry." When Winry said that Kira groaned.

"No. Clothes, fine, but jewelry? No. Definitely no." Winry pleaded and wheedled until Kira grudgingly said, "I give up! You're too hard to argue against. But I'm doing the choosing now." And let Winry drag her back into the bathroom with, yet, another bag.

Kira immediately discarded the bright colored objects. Then, excluded some heavy looking jewelry. After them, went the fancy ones, and after those went the ones that Kira promised herself that she would never wear. That pretty much narrowed the pile to three pieces of jewelry. Two bracelets, one, simple, thin, and black, the other black with white and gray vines intertwining around the whole bracelet, and a necklace with a black granite carved likeness of a rose petal. Winry chose the bracelet with the vines. Kira slipped it into her pocket. Winry frowned, but didn't say anything, knowing that Kira would wear it tomorrow and exited the small room with said person behind her.

"Done?" Hibiki asked. The two nodded. "Good, Washi's outside the door waiting. He said he would treat us all to a late dinner." Silently Kira walked out with Winry a few steps behind her striking a conversation with Washi about automail. He seemed pretty interested in it.

* * *

Third Day of the State Alchemy Exams- Showing Your Skill 

Kira and the others were among a mass crowd of people, waiting to begin.

"In the area marked inside the borders, you may use the land as you please to do a transmutation. There should be all the materials you need here for the Exams. You may begin." Everybody scattered and went to the area where they excelled. Some people like Washi headed toward the river where there was water, when people like Hibiki and Genji headed to the mines where metal was. Others, like Kira like to work with a bit of everything stepped toward the center. Everybody else went to the various places where they could show the best of their alchemical skill.

Washi drew a transmutation circle on the ground and placed his hands on the edges. Water from the river flowed out and began twisting into different shapes. First a dove, then a panther, many animals followed before the water settled and froze into the form of a tiger, glistening in the sun.

Close to where Washi was, Hibiki and Genji were transmuting their own thing. Hibiki clapped and created a life-size of the armor that Genji was stuck in for four years until after, that incident. It was very detailed and look ready to step off the pedestal it was on and walk around, hollowly clanking just like the real thing. Genji shook his head and smiled. He had created a pure silver horse with wings. Now, he clapped and put some of his soul into it. It instantly came alive and flaring its nostrils, it leaped off the ground and flew up into the sky like a lark, but as the transmutation begun of wear off, it turned around and went into a gentle descent and landing softly. Genji patted its nose before slowly turn back into a cold, silver lifeless figure again.

Nearby, Kira watched them all. When they and a good population of the people were done with their transmutation, she begun hers. She drew a large and detailed complex circle, carefully forming each line and curve. Then, she walked to the edge, not smearing or blurring any lines, and activated the circle. It began glowing yellow. A block of metal twisted into a wrinkle trunk and started sprouting branches, water and earth, mixed to form leaves, then metal writhed and placed itself so the leaves were covered with a thin sheet of metal. When the glow of the transmutation died, there stood a shimmering tree, leaves rustling in the wind. Kira walked to the tree, which was in the center of the circle and broke off a leaf. Observing it and balancing it in her hand, she appeared satisfied. She altered some lines in her circle and activated it again. This time, everything was in reverse. Water and earth went back to where they originally came from, as did the metal. Kira was wiping the circle clean when a wind blew the remains of the chalk circle away. When the wind faded, there was no sigh visible of the circle or tree. It and Kira made sure of that. Then, she joined her friends and they all walked to the building where they would tell whether they passed and was part of the military, or they failed and packed their bags home.

Chatter and nervousness filled the air of the room. There were three doors. They were the entrance, the one that led to the temporary dorms, which was the one to the left, and the one that led deeper in the military Central headquarters, which was the one that was to the right. Some faces were portraying a nervous expression, some of them just masks, most of them genuine.

When everyone was in the building, a military official said quite loudly, "We will now begin." The room quickly quieted all eyes on the official. He called out names of people who, most of them were shown the door to the left.

"Hazuki Kirarena." She felt her breath catch in her throat. She managed to squeeze out a few words.

"Wish me luck. I'll meet you on the other side."

The official took a long time getting her papers. She bowed her head. She had failed. When the official handed the papers to her, she already knew what they said and didn't bother looking at them. She just trudged to the left door.

"Excuse me, miss. I do believe you are going the wrong way." The official had spoken to her. She froze. Almost too scared to look, she glanced at her papers. A grin broke on her face. Instead of a temporary dorm number, there was an office, rank, and an official dorm number! She had passed! She felt like running and did, remembering to bow and say thanks. When she burst through the door, she slowed down to a halt and switched expressions. Now, she was calm, cool, and collected. She quickly read the papers.

The first paper only said with a map diagram of the headquarters:

_Office: Fuhrer's Office_

_Superior: Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist_

The second page was an extremely long letter, basically summarized was "Welcome the Military".

Following the map diagram, she made her way to the Fuhrer's Office were she was supposed to work. When she approached the door she knocked and entered.

* * *

Illidan the Half Demon- Thanks for the review! I appreciate it!

* * *

Well, there you have it! Chapter 3 is at its end.

Note: I think its only fair that I tell you all. I guess I have most of the story written already. Sorry if there are any mistakes in the story! If you have any comments or complaints, please tell me!

And remember, please review whether it is comments of complaints.

Thank you all for reading!

-Dark Reborn


	4. Chapter 3

I forgot the disclaimer in soem of the past chapters. This time, I finally remembered to put it in here. Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist

* * *

The door opened. Riza stepped in and saluted.

"Sir, we are expecting two new members in this office today from the Exams. They should be coming shortly." A knock came from the door and the door opened. Riza immediately fired three shots from her revolver in quick succession and the Fuhrer stood up, poised to snap.

"What do you want Envy?" he growled.

"Last time I checked, envy was an emotion and I was a person. Was there a revolution and I missed it?" the intruder smirked. Then, she became more polite. "Sorry sir, I didn't mean that. My name's Hazuki Kirarena. I was informed that I would be working in this office." Havoc and Fuery came running in.

"What happened? We heard Riza shoot!" they gasped. "E-envy!" Kira sighed.

"I repeat, my name is not envy, last time I checked, that was an emotion. My name's Hazuki Kirarena. Do I have to repeat myself any further?"

"Hey Kira, are you alright?" A voice came from the doorway. Everybody looked at him. "Sorry, am I interrupting anything?"

"Oh no, you're not. Come in. Hitomu Hibiki. Correct?" Riza asked. Hibiki nodded.

"Well, I don't see any reason to introduce myself as everybody already knows who I am. So Kira, are you okay?" Kira was cut in three places, her lower leg, her arm, and her neck. All of them very shallow, however.

"Yeah, I've got it covered. She rummaged in her pouch that she always carried with her. "Now, where did I put it?" she muttered. "Found it." She took out a wrap of gauze.

"If you'll excuse me." She saluted and left.

"Where's she going?" Fuery asked.

"Oh, she probably went somewhere to take care of the cuts. She doesn't like to do it around people." Hibiki answered.

A few minutes later, Kira came back. Roy looked at her noting the absence of the neck and arm cuts, but the leg was bandaged. He frowned. There was a transmutation circle draw into the bandage. Simple as it was, he had never seen it before. When she saw him staring, she gestured to the bandage and circle.

"The circle is for medical issues. It tells you the status of the cut area. If the cut gets worse, the circle will keep on changing color until the cut is taken care of or it turns red, which means the cut is fatal or the area is dead. That also means most of the time when the person or animal is dead. Usually that doesn't happen with cuts. Cuts naturally heal themselves. There are two types of the circle. The simpler one is cuts, scrapes, minor things. The more complex one is for more serious things like broken bones or fractures. It's dead useful for everything ranging from a bruise to a shattered skull." That talk erased some confusion, but the Fuhrer still had some questions.

"Did you create this circle yourself or did you find it some book? I have never seen this transmutation circle before, though I highly doubt that you found it in a book." Kira just smiled, not answering. Roy sighed; he made a mental note to pry the answer from her later. "Then could you draw both of the circles on a piece of paper?" She smiled again, but nodded this time. She was handed a piece of paper. The simple one she drew quickly, but the complex one she took a longer time drawing. When she was done, she handed it back. Roy saw that the first circle was the same one on the bandage on her leg, but the complex one was so complex that he was amazed Kira could even draw one with such complexity in a matter of seconds.

"Are you two done talking about medical transmutations circles and whatnot yet?" Hibiki's impatience broke the silence.

"Sorry Hibiki. You can talk now." Kira apologized.

"And I couldn't earlier? What, did a cat get my tongue? Anyway, what are we supposed to do today?" Roy explained that.

"Today, you're not supposed to do that much. Tomorrow however, you get your uniforms, title, rank, and other such things. Havoc, could you give these two a tour of the building?" Hibiki declined the offer.

"No thank you, sir. I think we can manage our way around the building. After all, we have maps with us." The two saluted and left the room.

"What do you think of them, sir?" Riza asked the Fuhrer. He took a while answering.

"They'll do this office a bit of good, I suppose." He leaned back on his chair and said wistfully, "If Ed and Al were still here, they would be about their age."

Riza replied, "I still miss them too."

* * *

"The letter says to go down the hall, third door to the right. Hibiki wait, I don't think that's the right door!"

"Brother, we're going the wrong way! That's the door for the stairs to go up to the fifth door." But Hibiki paid his brother Genji or Kira no attention.

"Trust me, those maps are old. Nobody has updated them for years. They changed the rooms some time ago." And with that, he enter the door where he said was where the uniforms were. Genji and Kira breathed a sigh of relief when hey saw that the map was indeed old and Hibiki was right. If that had been the wrong door…who knows what disastrous things might have happened.

"Hitomu and Hazuki coming in for their uniforms." Genji said to the lady there, sorting the uniforms.

"Hitomu and Hazuki, please wait a moment." Soon, she was carrying three packages. She handed the woman's uniform to Kira, the smaller of the two men's uniform to Hibiki, and the only one left to Genji.

"Here you go. If you need any help putting it on, there should be instructions inside the packages." The three left.

"Well, I'll be seeing you two around! If you need me, I'll be at the Investigations Department." Genji said as he waved, going to his own dorms. It was not near to Kira's and Hibiki's were since he worked in a different place than them. The two walked in silence. When they approached their own dorms, they nodded to each other and went their separate ways. In a few minutes, they both came out. Hibiki was wearing the uniform with a face of obvious dislike. Kira didn't change. When Hibiki asked her she replied with a tone of disgust.

"The woman's uniform I got had only skirts. Not pants at all whatsoever. I am _not_ going to wear a skirt. Especially a _miniskirt_."

"So that colonal idiot eventually go his wish." Hibiki shrugged. "It's on your own head."

They entered the office.

"Kira, why aren't you wearing your uniform?" the Fuhrer asked.

"There are only skirts in there. I am not going to wear a skirt. How am I supposed to work in a skirt?" She replied flatly.

"It's part of your uniform and I suggest you wear it." At that comment, Riza drew her revolver from its holster.

"Will all due respect, I will shoot if you insist on her wearing a skirt." She smiled. "She has the same views that I do. Unlike those absurd woman that acutally like wearing a skirt.You simply cannot work in the military wearing a skirt."

_Flashback_

_"Sir, if you insist on miniskirts. Fine, but no matter what, I am **not** going to wear it. Ever."_

_Flashback _

"Fine." The Fuhrer scribbled a note and smiled. _What will this office be like?_ He thought."Now go before I change my mind." Kira flashed Riza a smile and hurried to get the uniform affair over with. "Now Hibiki, take these and read them." Roy gave Hibiki a small stack of papers and a miniature blue-bound book titled_ The Handbook to Being in the Amestris Military_. It was very thick. He took the papers.

"I am not reading that book." He said, eyeing the book and turned to Riza.

"Where am I supposed to read all this?" Riza pointed to one of the two empty desks. Hibiki tossed the handbook into the garbage next to his desk. With a sigh, Hibiki started reading the papers. Later, Kira came in wearing a uniform, without the skirt. Instead of a skirt, there were pants. Kira didn't have good memories about skirts, especially the ones with Winry in them too. The Fuhrer handed her a stack of papers and she was told the same as Hibiki. When both of them were done reading, excluding the handbook a.k.a. the manual for Hibiki, but Kira didn't throw it out like Hibiki did, they were given papers again, this time actual paperwork.

* * *

"Kira, would you like to shoot a few rounds with me?" Riza asked. Kira had finished her paperwork and was blankly staring into space.

"Sure! Just wait a moment." She neatly stacked her papers and left with Riza. "Hibiki, I'll be back later. And don't forget to finish your paperwork." She received grumbling as a response. He hadn't finished his paperwork yet." On the way to the range, people started whispering when they noticed the silver chain on her belt. Kira didn't pay attention to them at all. She didn't want to blow up headquarters on her second day there. (Author's Note: Not now, but maybe on the hundredth day... just kidding. That would be funny though. Oops, I'm just babbling. Now, on with the story!) At the range, Riza used the revolvers she kept with her at all times. Kira picked one from the ones available there. Soon, the two were having fun going against each other, seeing who could get a higher score. The air was filled with the crack of gun bullets.

In the end, Riza won, but Kira's score was almost as high as Riza's. Riza was amazed. Nobody had ever gotten a score that high against hers.

"How long have you been shooting." Kira shuffled her feet awkwardly. She chuckled nervously.

"Uh, that's a very good question. I hope you don't mind, but I have to head back to the office now. There's probably some paperwork I need to finish." She returned her gun and ran away.

Roy thought his eyes were deceiving him for a moment. Hibiki's hair had changed color for a second. One moment, it was black. Then to gold, the gold that Edward Elric had, but then it turned back to its normal black.

"Hibiki," he said slowly, "did your hair just change color?" Hibiki was in mid shake of his when his face paled. He jumped out of his seat, saluted, and ran out the door saying, "Please excuse me, sir." The Fuhrer was in shock at his sub-coordinates behavior. Then, he too rose from his desk and went in pursuit of Hibiki.

"Kira! Kira! Where are you?" Hibiki ran to the nearest phone and called the Investigations Department.

"Hello? Is this the Investigation Department?"

"_Yes. How may I help you?"_

"May I talk to Hitomu Genji?"

"_Who is calling?"_

"This is his brother."

"_Please wait a moment."_

He tapped his foot rapidly against the floor. "Genji, Kira's gone missing. I can't find her. I think _**that**_ happened. And to make it worse, Mustang saw it. We need to find Kira, and fast."

"_But that's impossible! That has never happened before! Not once did __**that**__ happen in all these years! Wait for me. I'll be there in a few minutes." _

"Okay, bye." He hastily hung up and turned around, only to find Roy right behind him with fingers ready to snap and an angry expression.

"Alright Hibiki, I believe you have a lot of explaining to do. If you don't tell me right not, I do not guarantee that I will not snap and flame you." Hibiki paid him no heed.

"Sorry sir, I need to go right now." And he ran, but before he could get away, a ring of fire surrounded him, preventing him from getting away.

"Explain, now!" The Fuhrer snapped.

"Sir, I need go look for Kira." Hibiki pleaded, but to his dismay, Roy's expression only hardened. When Hibiki knew that he wouldn't be let out, he ran to the edge of the ring, ran across the diameter of the circle, and jumped, barely making it above the flickering flames. He ran. Genji soon joined him. They discussed quietly in whispers and split up. Reckoning they could find Kira faster that way. Roy was right behind them, deciding to follow Hibiki instead of Genji. They had reached the edge of a thick forest now. Hibiki dashed into the undergrowth, looking for a hiding spot, knowing Genji was looking for Kira and as soon as Roy stopped chasing him, he would too. Suddenly, he saw a tree with thick foliage. Scrambling up the trunk, he made it just in time.

"Hibiki, get down there." Roy's voice came from far below.

"No!" was the answer, "You'll just try flame me."

_He does have a point there_ thought Roy. He was at loss of what to do. If he actually did try to flame him, he would probably burn the whole forest. Then, Hibiki jumped to another branch on the tree next to it, getting away from Roy without being at risk of being flamed, with or without the forest too. He continued doing that until he reached the end of the forest and edge of a clearing and lost sight of the man from his high view. Breathing a sigh of relief, he leapt down from the tree, 10 feet at a time. Landing down on the earth, it crunched under his boots. That made him aware of the silence that surrounded the area. Sensing something was not right, he turned around facing the forest. Roy emerged from the shadows. He snapped and a ring of fire erupted covering the whole circumference of the clearing, not burning the trees, but still ferocious enough to heat the area. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. The clearing's vastness exposed the two's attacks to each other. They faced each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Roy snapped. It had begun.

Hibiki clapped and a wall rose up from the ground and blocked the attack. He clapped again and spikes erupted. Roy snapped to burn them away, but that only caused them to burst them into flames. They stopped inches away from his face, flickering hungrily over the spikes. Meanwhile, Hibiki had escaped. He had transmuted a wall to fall over a weak part of the flame circle extinguishing the flames momentarily before they consumed it. Roy sighed; there was no use in chasing. Hibiki had already vanished into the forest. He was always going to escape and run away. He would send a search party for him, Kira, and Genji.

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Well, there you have it! Chapter 3 is at its end! I hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to review!

-Dark Reborn


	5. Chapter 4

Okay, please forgive me, but I'm going to need some time to revise my story. I don't think it's good enough for all of you. Please please be patient and don't give up on this story! I'll try to update as fast as I can!

-Dark Reborn


	6. Chapter 5

Yes, I finally updated! _To Be: Chapter 5 _is up! I'm sorry for the waiting and shortness for this chapter, I'm working on another story. And please don't forget to review!

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_Illidan the Half Demon_- Thank you so much for reviewing! I love them!

* * *

Leaves rustled as Hibiki ran, looking for his brother and Kira. He was starting to get tired. He had been running for a long time now, not counting when he was being chased by the Fuhrer. "Genji, Kira, where are you?" Hibiki shouted. "Genji, Kira, it's me Hibiki."

"Over here." A faint voice called. It was Genji. "We're over here. Hurry." Hibiki ran towards the voice to find Genji kneeling next to Kira. She was sitting hugging her knees. She appeared to be unmoving. "Brother, I found her here. She won't wake up, but she's not sleeping either."

"Here, let me see." Hibiki looked at her face. Her eyes were wide open and she was breathing, but there was no movement of any kind.

"Hitomu Hibiki and Genji, Hazuki Kirarena, the Fuhrer requests your audience." Hibiki cursed under his breath.

"The search party already found us." He hissed. Standing up, he said arrogantly, "And why should we go with you?"

"No questions and come quietly, or we will have to take you by force." Hibiki didn't move. The leader of the search party took that as a no.

"Last chance to agree to come with us quietly, or we will take you be force." Hibiki still didn't move. The group advanced. Hibiki and Genji fought against them, except they were outnumbered by a huge number and were quickly caught with their arms wrestled uncomfortably behind them with hands to elbows so they couldn't escape by alchemy. Kira was roughly grabbed and put in the same position just in time for her to break from her daze, because if they were a second late, they would have been some…trouble. Others surrounded them, destroying any other thoughts of escaping. Hibiki ground his teeth.

* * *

"Hitomu Hibiki, Hitomu Genji, do you have any idea what is happening?" the man in front of the brother demanded.

"Nope!" Hibiki cockily answered. Roy glared at him through him single, dark, gleaming eye. Hibiki didn't like the sight of that. If he was right, the Fuhrer was planning something…to say nicely…unpleasant. He decided to make a run for it.

"Um,ifyou'llexcusemeI'llbegoingnow!" he quickly dashed away in hopes of escaping. He jerked the doorknob and opened the door, but it was futile. His superior was too well trained to let him escape that quickly poised to snap. Hibiki fervently signaled his brother to go. Genji hesitantly slipped out of the opened door, unnoticed. The Fuhrer was solely trained on the man in front of him. Hibiki only looked back at him square in the eye.

"Do you know what I do to coordinates like you?" Hibiki smirked. He tore his arm from Roy's grasp. He pretended to think.

"No, I don't. Let me guess, you burn them to crisp?" Roy didn't like the look in the alchemist's eyes. They were…challenging. As if daring the Fuhrer to actually snap and set him in flames. As if withholding something important, something that not even he, the Fuhrer, Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, knew. He was genuinely curious.

"What do you know that I don't?" he softly asked. Hibiki shrugged.

"I know many things that you don't know, things that surpasses this entire world's knowledge." He motioned with his hand to emphasize the vastness of his knowledge.

"Now sir, I believe I should be leaving now. It is past working hours." What he said was true; it was past working hours and getting dark outside. He turned his heel to leave, but Roy grabbed his left sleeve.

"Excuse me sir, but I must leave now." Roy released the sleeve at the sternness in that sentence, but realized what just happened and reached for Hibiki again, succeeding in snagging a glove. It slipped off to reveal silver.

* * *

Again, I'm sorry for the shortness and waiting for this chapter. As I said, I'm working on another story. I have a question, if you're writing a crossover, do you publish in one time, or do you publish it more than once, for each of the anime/manga in the crossover? And can you check how many people read your story? Anyway, please review!

-Dark Reborn


	7. Chapter 6

Here you go, to all you readers! Chapter six of _To Be_ is here! Sorry, for the delay in updating! Anyway, enough of me babbling, on with the story!

_

* * *

_

_Illidan the Half Demon- Thank you so much for reviewing after all this time! I really appreciate it! ._

* * *

Roy hadn't thought about this boy's arm, but now to think of it, how did he get it?

"How did you get your automail?" Hibiki's eyes narrowed.

"That's none of your business." He hissed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go. My brother and friend are waiting for me." And with that, he left.

oOo

Roy sighed as he closed his front door and hung his coat up. He just couldn't pinpoint why exactly Hibiki had automail. There were too many possible ways of losing limbs, especially at this time of the century. Although he didn't believe it, he heard there were reports on disturbances at the border of Amestris and of a possible war. That was impossible! He had made sure his time as Fuhrer would not result in the same ending as the previous Fuhrer, King Bradley. There was a scuffle. His stiffened, there was something behind him. He slyly exchanged his plain white glove for his ignition gloves in his pockets and whirled around, poised to snap, only to smile. It was just a ragged puppy. It must have slipped in his house when he was coming in with the door wide open. He held out his now ungloved hand and the puppy cautiously crept to it to finally sniff it. After that, Roy went into the kitchen to get something edible for the puppy. As he was rummaging through the shelves, he suddenly felt a cold hand reach and press firmly on his temples. After that, everything was black.

oOo

"Hitomu Hibiki and Hazuki Kirarena, your first mission in your military career as State Alchemists is to go investigate Xenotime. There have been people reported as missing and possibly murder. Do you two understand?" Said two clicked their heels and saluted.

"Yes sir!"

oOo

Kira was briefing through the papers containing the information the needed for their mission. They were on a train with civilian clothes on. Kira was wearing a dark green tank top with a light dragon imprinted on it. Hibiki how ever, was exercising his mouth.

"I can't wait until I see that imposter! He'll see that I'm not short anymore!" Kira sprouted a vein. When Hibiki ceased to stop talking, she got fed up with it.

"HITOMU HIBIKI, SHUT YOUR TRAP OR DO YOU WANT ME TO KINDLY SHUT IT FOR YOU WITH MY FIST!!??" Hibiki didn't stop and just ignored her.

"THAT'S IT!! YOU ARE SOO GETTING IT!!" Kira stood up, grabbed the person in front of her with one hand, punched him in the jaw with the other, threw him back down, and kicked his forehead.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"THAT, FOR YOU INFORMATION, WAS FOR YOUR HUGE MOUTH SHORTY!!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTY THAT HE CAN BE SQUISHED BY A SINGLE GRAIN OF RICE!!??"

"YOU, THAT'S WHO!!"

"I AM **NOT** SHORT!!"

"YES YOU ARE! YOU DON'T EVEN DRINK YOUR MILK!!"

"NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DRINK THAT DISGUSTING COW STUFF ANYWAYS!!"

"Xenotime, we are approaching Xenotime. All passengers getting off at Xenotime please gather all your belongings before the train stops." Both alchemists stopped yelling at the train announcement and glared at each other instead. Suddenly, they burst out laughing. To an outsider, it would seem as if both had gone mad. In reality, the argument was for fun. They reveled in their arguments, whether they were physical or verbal. They sat in silence, much to the relief of the surrounding passengers. They looked through the window of the train to watch as the outside blur solidified.

"Xenotime, we have arrived at Xenotime. All passengers getting off at Xenotime please do not leave any of your belongings behind. Thank you for riding this train." Hibiki nearly skipped off the train. It was really cramped in there. He was glad to get out of it.

"YES, WE'RE FINALLEY HERE!" Kira whacked him on the head.

"Shush up! We haven't been here for over five minutes and your attracting a lot attention already!" Hibiki quieted down. She had a point there. Yelling was _not _the key to keeping a low profile. As they exited the station, they passed between two guards posted at the doors.

"Last time I was here, security wasn't so tight." Hibiki muttered. Kira nudged him on the side.

"What did I tell you? Be quiet. The security is tighter than last time you were here probably because there wasn't a mass murder or murders on the loose all over the town, was there?" They managed to safely pass the guards and officially enter the town. After glancing around for any people watching them, they relaxed a little. Kira tapped Hibiki's shoulder and inclined her head to tell him to follow her. He nodded and they both slipped into an alley.

"So, what do you want?" chuckled Kira. Hibiki thought for a moment.

"How about light blue hair with dark blue eyes with nothing crazy?"

"Consider it done." Hibiki looked himself over carefully. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Kira noticed him looking himself over and rolled her eyes.

"It's not like I'm gave you pink spiky hair or anything. It's a _mission_. It's different than practice in Resembool." Hibiki cringed at the memory. Back in Resembool when they were exercising Kira's skills, she gave Hibiki pink spiky hair. He had to sit through dinner with it before she turned it back to normal.

"I never got over that." Joked Hibiki, fingering some strands of his icy blue bangs.

"How should I be? Long, short, black, blue?" Kira's figure blurred for a few seconds and refocused. Instead of Kira standing in front of him, there was a girl with long metallic silver-blue hair tied in a ponytail that went down to her mid-back and emerald green eyes.

"That white hair it going to attract attention." Cautioned the icy blue haired boy.

"Like your hair color's any better." The silver haired girl shot back.

"Fine." The boy reluctantly agreed.

"My name's Yuri Midori and your name is Yuri Michio. We're brother and sister."

"Why can't I choose my own name?" the newly dubbed Michio whined. Midori glared at him. He held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Fine." She started to go out of the alley. Michio resisted the urge to stick out his tongue.

"Hurry up! We still have to find the Tringham brothers." She called from the alley entrance. Michio hurried to catch up with Midori.

Midori and Michio toured around the city, pretending to innocent visitors. Then, as they passed an apple stand, Midori stopped and bought an apple. As the apple lady was handing her an apple, Midori asked her a question.

"Do you happen to know where the famous Tringham brothers are?" The apple lady nodded and pointed to the edge of the town. Midori smiled and thanked the lady.

"Let's go!" she said, munching on an apple, still pretending to be the ecstatic tourist. The brother's house wasn't that hard to find. It was the one with the most plants around it. It practically sang "botany". Midori hesitantly knocked on the vine-covered door. They heard a muffled, "Coming." The door opened to reveal Russell, the older of the two. Michio opened his mouth to explain why there were hear, but Russell was faster than him.

"If you've come for autographs or if you plant has a bent leaf, I've afraid we can't help you." Then he hurriedly shut the door, but before he could completely shut the door, Midori said, "Wait, we came on State business." Michio showed him his silver watches. Russell's face immediately brightened up.

"Finally, we've been sending a request for a State Alchemist to come over here. Come on in." They stepped into the house to be greeted by many plants all over the place. They all sat at a table. Russell grew serious.

"There have been more murders than ever lately. Last night's was the worst. There were seven people killed."

"Can you tell us all the details? Like the times they were killed, how they were killed, who were killed, things like that." Michio asked. Russell nodded.

"From what we found, the victims were killed between eleven late at night and one in the morning. We don't know how they were killed. So far, we haven't found any whole body; we only found blood, and its possible that there was murder. We're not really sure. As you can see, my brother and me only study botany alchemy, so we're useless in this kind of situation. The strange thing is, the people who were killed were all young woman. The attacks are random. We found no relations between them like friendships, gangs, groups, etc. The locations of the murders were across the city, all of them in dark alleys."

"Is that it?" Midori leaned back on her chair thinking. Russell nodded.

"That's all of the information we know." Midori smiled and looked Michio. He nodded. Her smile grew bigger and she turned back to Russell.

"Do you know of any good places we can stay for this mission?" he smiled.

"Oh, you can stay at our house. I'm sure my brother, Fletcher, wouldn't mind." They heard a door open and a voice call out.

"Brother, I'm home." Russell chuckled.

"And there he is, right on time." Fletcher came in holding a potted plant. He looked at the unfamiliar two and asked, "Who are you? Are you staying here? Are you a State Alchemist Brother's been sending letters for?" Midori squealed.

"Yes, yes, and, uh, no! But you so cute!" she hugged him. That caught the young boy by surprise and it was only by sheer willpower that he didn't drop the potted plant onto the floor. Michio and Russell sweat dropped.

"U-um, Midori, you might want to left go now, he's turning red." That was true. Poor Fletcher was blushing. Any young boy his age would madly blush at the obvious, outwardly show of affection. Midori quickly released the red boy.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized. "I don't know what got over me. Anyway, we need to plan. If you don't mind, could you show us where we'll be staying? We want to figure this case out as soon as possible. Oh, and by the way, I'm Yuri Midori and the person over there is Yuri Michio. We're brother and sister." She pointed at Michio. Fletcher happily did as she asked. They were shown a nice room with light green wall with two beds. Sunlight beamed into the room with a nice breeze blowing in. Midori claimed the left bed. Michio shrugged and sat next to her, serious. When the sister saw he was serious, they began to discuss their plans.

oOo

A young woman was slowly walking. Her platform shoes clacked loudly on the ground. She was all alone. She rubbed her ears like they were cold.

A block away, a young man was sitting in his room, waiting for her call. The speaker crackled and a hushed whisper came.

"I'm at the block, and going into the alley. There's no sign of anything yet."

Midori's eyes carefully scanned her surroundings. She could have sworn she heard something.

"Did something just move at your end?" Michio said no. Suddenly, something behind her reached out and latched onto her neck, crushing her windpipe. She tried to throw his off, but the attacker was stronger than her and her attempts to loosen the hands began to grow weaker and weaker. After she was rendered unconscious, her body was swung over the attacker's shoulder and was taken away. Meanwhile, Michio smiled, and waited, watching the device he had in his hand.

* * *

Since now you've read chapter six of _To Be_, you have to update! BWAHAHAHAHA!!! No, not really. You don't have to review, but I would really like it if you did!

Ed:smirks: You see, she doesn't like the reviews. So don't review!

Dark Reborn: No its not, I just don't like forcing people into things.

Ed:crosses arms: You're too nice for your own good.

Dark Reborn: ... crys

Kira:whacks Ed on the head: Ed, look at what you've done!

Ed: Ow:rubs head: What did I do?

Kira: You've put the author in a not-so-happy mood! You know that she might do something to you in the next chapter...

Ed: She's too nice to do that. :innocently blinks:

Dark Reborn:muffled talking: Kira:sniff: just get on with it and end this chapter.

Kira: But...

Dark Reborn:shakes head: Leave it.

Kira: ...fine. Alright, to all you readers. Please review and tell the author what you think, whether it's complaints, questions, comments, or all the other things like those.

.:Silence:.

Kira: Ed! It's your turn!

Ed:rolls eyes: Why?

Kira:glare:

Ed:cringe:Okay,ifyoudon'treview,thenyouwillbeinbigtroublewithKira.Andtrustmeyoudon'twanttogetonherbadside,she'sreallyreallyscarythatway.Anyway,seeyoualllater.  
IneedtosavemylifebeforeKirafindsoutthatwhatI'msayingisnotwhatI'mactuallysupposedtosay:takes off running:

Kira: Anyway, please review! chases Ed, tackles him to the ground, and drags him back into _To Be_.

-Dark Reborn


	8. Chapter 7

Sorry for the shortness and lateness of the chapter! Here's chapter 7 of _To Be_. Enjoy!

_Illidan the Half Demon- Thank you so much for all of your reviews and continuing to read this story! _

* * *

Midori woke up to sounds of chains clattering and felt something cold and heavy tightly wound around her arms. She cracked her eyes open just a little to see her surroundings. She was in some type of cell, chained to a wall with her arms spread wide apart giving her no advantage with alchemy. The only way light came into her little space was through the barred window on the door. The rest of the walls were solid concrete. She could feel the locator pulsing in her pocket. That was good. Michio could track her down. That was the whole plan. Yes, it was dangerous, but it was the only one they could think of. They couldn't investigate the case by asking around without seeming suspicious. Telling the whole town that one of them was a State Alchemist was out of the question. They would become prime targets. None of them were experts at that. Genji was always the one who asked around for information. Michio would turn the locator off so it stopped pulsing, telling Midori that he had pinpointed her location. Then, a clattering of boots disturbed her thinking. She immediately closed her eyes and slowed down her breathing. The clattered stopped in front of her cell door. She heard a key turning in the lock, and with a squeak, the door opened and two men came in. She couldn't help but wince at the sudden burst of light as it shone through her eyelids. _So much for sleeping._ She thought. The locater in her pocket stopped pulsing. _Well, let's try the next best thing. _She tried to look pitiful and meek. She hated doing that. She was in no way pitiful or meek, but that was not the case despite her pride. It didn't work on either one of the men. She soon gave that up too. It wasn't going to work anyway. She couldn't really look those ways unless it really was true, even if her life depended on it. One of the men undid her locks and she was practically dragged between the men. When they halted, Midori took a chance and looked forward, only for a second though. Then she resumed staring blankly at the floor. Her thoughts were in a whirlwind. What she had just seen confused her. She in an oddly large laboratory and with a huge circle drawn in the middle? She recognized it. This was no murder this was human transmutation! She struggled against her captor's grasp, but the burly men's grip was too strong. She struggled harder as she got closer and closer to the center of the circle, but they were in vain. She was held down as the two men locked her wrists and ankles in the open shackles to the floor. She grimaced; they were crusted in dried blood; no doubt belonging to the previous person here. She stopped her struggles when she heard a harsh whisper.

"You're a lovely specimen. Yes, you would be the most _perfect_ project." He gloated at his "specimen". He seemed…happy. Midori's lips drew back. This man had _fun_ in fiddling with life and then throwing them away uselessly like they were nothing. Something came into the room and handed a cage with something white inside it. She couldn't see what either one of the things were. They were too far away, at the edge of the room, for her to see. The cage was set down next to her. She now could see that was some sort of bird of prey. It was pale in comparison to the dark surroundings. Then, something else crept into the room, more like tomb, and signaled frantically to the man. It was mute. His face settled into a panicked expression. He signaled the thing back and it settled by his side, waiting.

The circle's lights quickly flared up as it was activated.

Thousands of needles stabbed through her skin, over and over again unbearably.

Her lip bled where her teeth had pierced through it.

Then, darkness mercifully overwhelmed her consciousness and took her away.

* * *

Again, sorry for the lateness and shortness of this chapter! Please please reivew!

-Dark Reborn


	9. Chapter 8

Sorry for the slow update! I found out that I'm a very slow updater so please forgive me!

* * *

"Maann, we have _another_ mission already!" complained Kira.

"Are you sure you're alright? I wish I could go with you, but Investigation people aren't allowed!" Genji worriedly said.

"Yes!" insisted Kira, "How many times am I going to have to tell you? You've been asking me that for _ages_!"

"But you just got out of the hospital a few days ago! Surely that -"

"Genji! I'll be fine! And besides, it's not like I'm going all by myself. Hibiki's coming with me." Genji bit his lower lip, not completely persuaded.

"Alright. Just be careful!" Hibiki dragged Kira on board before Genji got all worried again and quickly sat down.

The train finally lurched foreword.

"Just like Genji to worry over a few scrapes and scratches." She muttered silently under her breath and rolled her eyes when Hibiki yawned, sprawled across the seat. Then, she settled into her seat and leaned against the window before closing her eyes to think, eventually, to sleep.

"Kira, hey, Kira! Wake up; we're at East City now." Kira groaned as she blearily opened her eyes. Hibiki tapped her head with his right, automail arm.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Hibiki smiled mission accomplished. She was awake. "We have to get off the train." With another groan, she forced herself to get off the bench and stagger out of the train. The sky was dark already. They quickly found a hotel to say at and waited for the next day.

"Hey, Hibiki?"

"What?"

"What are we going to do about the mission?"

"What we're supposed to do."

"But who could be making all the chimeras?"

"A crazy old person with no common sense, now go to sleep, I'm tired." Kira stopped asking Hibiki questions and lay on her back, looking at the ceiling, thinking what was wrong with this world. What did it have against her? What did she do wrong?

Hibiki and Kira both groaned simultaneously as the sunlight through the window burst itself into their faces.

"Morning."

"What no good morning?" Hibiki teased. Kira never failed to say good morning, or at least, up till this point.

"You call this a good morning?" she snapped, and then she just waved in apology. "Sorry, I just had a bad night. Dreams, you know? It's not really anything to worry about." Hibiki shrugged.

"I'm going to just wander around town until something turns up." He inclined his head. "Want to come with me?"

"Sure, just wait a few minutes." They both separately dressed up and left the hotel to pointlessly walking around town. But before that, they checked out. The hotel manager jokingly threatened them that he would personally hunt them down if they didn't pay when they were checking out. There was no reason for this, which they both knew. It was just to pass the time, to wait for the end of day, to wait for the beginning of the night, to wait for when the true threat would come out of hiding.

"I'm boorred." Kira grumpily kicked a pebble on the black path. "Admit it; there is no crazy old man with any common sense out there making chimeras." Kira whined.

"I never said that." Smirked Hibiki. "I said 'A crazy old _person_ with _no_ common sense.'"

"I modified your quote so my sentence would grammatically correct, you idiot."

"What about the person and man mix-up?" Hibiki coolly asked.

"It was a mix-up."

"Really?"

"You just said 'What about the person and man mix-up?' yourself. Face it; you're never going to win a single argument against me." Kira cackled. Hibiki flicked his pocket watch open and checked the time. It was late.

"We should just be getting back now. I guess I'll just check us both back into the hotel again." He sighed. "I thought we could catch this guy, get this over with tonight, and get back to Central by morning." Kira whacked him on the head.

"Stop acting like the mission is _just_ a job. There are people who are dying because of the rogue alchemist. Do you _want_ them to die? They didn't _choose_ this and it's our _duty_ as alchemists for undo what our other '_fellow'_ alchemists have done. Alchemists, be thou for the people. Or have you forgotten that as well as the filthy traitors, poor excuse for an alchemist? _Well?_" she hissed, punctuating every forced word with a sharp jab to the chest, her face only inches away from the Hibiki's frightened face. Although he knew her most of the time, there were some times where she suddenly seemed to have a totally different personality. Then, all signs of anger disappeared from her face to be replaced with tiredness.

"Sorry, the dreams are still bothering me. You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later. I need some time to sort my thoughts." Hibiki nodded understandingly and walked away, his footsteps fading into the distance.

"Now, now, that wasn't so hard was it, my dear?" a voice mocked from the shadows as a man stepped out. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She twisted from the brief contact and slapped the offending hand away.

"I'm never am and never will be your wretched _dear_!" she spat back at him. The man clucked his tongue at her.

"Continue that behavior and your friend just might have a deathly _accident_." The angry, tense body in front of him relaxed visibly, but inside there was cold hot anger. The despicable man had her stuck around his finger. He had all the keys to this game. There was no exit, except maybe one, or two…she could always get rid of herself…or she could get rid of the revolting man in front of her. She mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking! If she "died" then… whatever, and if the man died, then a) the chimeras would tear her apart, piece by piece, or b) if she got away from the chimeras… too awful to think about, being torn apart by chimeras would be a mercy. She frowned. What does all the worlds have against her? Something shoved her forward. She looked down. It was a cat snake crossover. It hissed at her, she glared back.

"You might want to hurry, I think your friend would want you back in a few minutes at the most. We mustn't waste time. Come." The man motioned and the cat snake thing shoved her again. Kira unwillingly followed the tall man, backed by the thing. When they slipped into an alley, he whispered into Kira's ear. Then, he smiled and patted her shoulder as if in reassurance before she took off, not looking back. She hated this. She had no free will. It was all entire ridiculous mans fault! Wait, she could, yes that would work. Smiling, she ran back to the hotel, ignoring a gnawing doubt in the back of her mind. Why are all the worlds against her?

Hibiki groaned as he stretch his cramped neck. He was never going to sleep in a couch again, or at least, he hoped. He checked the next room. The bed was crisp and white as it was the day before. Kira never returned to the hotel. A sudden breeze blew into the room from an open window and something fluttered to the ground. He knelt down and picked it up.

_Dear Hibiki,_

_If you're wondering where I am, don't bother. It's for your own good. That's all for now._

Kira 

He frowned, snatched the telephone off its hook and punched in a few numbers.

"_This is the Amestris Military Investigations Department in Central. How may I help you?"_

"Could you please transfer the call to Hitomu Genji? This is his brother."

"_I'm sorry sir, since you are using a civilians phone line, please confirm yourself." _

"Brigadier General Hitomu Hibiki, 2344568!"

"_Identity confirmed. Please hold."_ Hibiki tapped his foot impatiently as the line beeped.

"Hello? Brother?" 

"Genji, I need to go back to Central as fast as possible."

"_Wait," _There was a shuffling of papers. _"If you run fast enough, there's a train leaving in a few minutes. The one after that is in two hours. Why?"_

"No time to explain. I'll catch the next train to Central. Just wait for me." Hibiki slammed the phone back, grabbed the unpacked bags, ran downstairs, checked out of the hotel, and ran all the way to the train station just in time to get a ticket and hop on. Breathing heavily from his long run, he took out the now crumpled scrap of paper out of his pocket and stared at it, thinking, "_What is going on?"_

"Brother, here!" Hibiki, once heard his brother, ran to him and turned a surprised Genji around.

"Don't waste time! We have to get going!" Genji was clueless what was happening as his brother ran out of the station with him in tow. "We have no time to loose!" Genji tore himself out of Hibiki's grasp and ran ahead of his brother. He hadn't seen his brother like this for so long, ever since the start of the Philosopher's Stone. The gleam in his eyes made him shudder with barely suppressed thrill. They swiftly ran to the military headquarters and weaved through the still present soldiers into Hibiki's dormitory. Hibiki throw his baggage onto his bed, sat at his desk, grabbed his magnifying glass, and began to peer closely at the letter all in a single fluid movement.

"Brother, now that we're here, could you tell me what's going on?"

"Here." Hibiki stood up and pushed his younger sibling into the chair. "What can you figure out from this?" A few minutes of silence passed.

"Well," Genji started slowly, "This was written quickly and with haste and urgency. The paper is really old. It's thin and a little yellow on the ends. The writing isn't written with a modern pen. It's written with a worn quill."

* * *

I sort of have a writer's block. So if you have any ideas that you want to tell me please do, but there's no guarantee that they'll be used.

-Dark Reborn


	10. Chapter 9

Yes! I finally updated! Sorry for, yet again, a slow update, but I'm a slow updater. Anyway, here's chapter 9 of _To Be_! Enjoy!

"What is that supposed to mean

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hibiki growled.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out."

oOo

The train whistle blared loudly, signaling departure.

"Are you _sure_ we're going to the right place?" Hibiki asked his brother, for the millionth time.

"Yes, Brother." Genji answered calmly, but his patience was wearing thin. They were going to an unmarked old deserted city. It was so old; it wasn't even on the map.

"The town used to be one of most popular and wealthiest place around, but then people started dying for some reason and everybody got scared. They did what they though were best; they all left, leaving it deserted. Even though that was a few centuries ago, nobody has ever found out what it was that scared the people so much. There were lots of ideas, but none of them were ever proved." Then, he added thoughtfully, "I don't think it even has a name anymore. It wasn't in the files." The two swapped they're own theories and soon, they arrived at their destination. When they stepped out of the train, their first impression of it was _this is weird._ The city didn't look deserted at all, but if you looked closer you could see that everything was incredibly dusty and undisturbed. Still, the buildings, even the town square fountain, were in perfect, pristine condition. Hibiki doubtfully kicked some pebbles.

"It doesn't look like where anybody would hide. There's not even a single speck of dust unturned." His brother scolded him.

"You, of all people, should know what you see isn't always true." Hibiki flinched at the sudden reminder of the horrid memory. The two carefully circled the edge of town and worked inwards. There was not a single trace of recent life, but they did find some interesting books. Although they were in a different language, Genji wanted to keep them. He thought it would be a nice challenge to try to translate them.

oOo

Hibiki sighed as he plopped down onto the city fountain. He and his brother had searched the entire city without any success.

"It's almost nighttime. We sound get some sleep. We need to have an early start tomorrow re-searching the city. We might've missed something." He said, and pulled two small, one-man military tents from his knapsack, soon followed by two sleeping bags. They set up their tents and settled in for the night.

oOo

Yowls and shrieks called in the distance woke Genji up. He groaned, "Brother, don't yawn so loud, you sound like you're kicking a poor cat. It's not even morning yet." But it didn't stop. Genji crawled out of his tent in annoyance. "What did I te-" He never finished his sentence. His eyes were wide in surprise. There was yellow, cracked, bared fangs at him with yellow carnivorous eyes glaring at deep into his own eyes. A yelp nearby told him that his brother had met the same fate. The yellow head looked down at its chest in shock as its life drained away. There was half a spear embedded in him. Genji panted next to the now obvious chimera.

"What in the world happened?" Hibiki growled. "This town was supposed to be deserted. Stupid military records never trust them."

"Brother, if the records were updated then there wouldn't be chimeras here and the person creating them would be in prison." Genji logically pointed out. Hibiki sighed.

"I know, it's just, just too much like Nina all over again." Genji fell silent. Snarls from behind them interrupted their thoughts.

"Looks like there's just more and more coming." Hibiki said distastefully. Then, a cross between a bird and a leopard chimera leaped at them. Both brothers thrust their spears in it. Next thing they knew, they were hacking and fighting for their lives. In the beginning, they slew the creatures without getting hurt, albeit a few minor scratches, but soon, those little scratches became bleeding gashes as the battle wore on. The humans became more and more tired as the chimeras got nearer and nearer for the kill. Hibiki cursed as a claw slithered past his guard and raked him in his left, flesh arm. His automail wasn't faring well either. It was covered in dents and scratches. Genji had gotten a couple injuries, but was holding up better than his brother. Then, he cried out in shock as he slipped and full down. With a loud howl, a bear-dog chimera leapt with its jaws slathering with saliva.

"No!" Hibiki threw himself in front of his little brother. The chimera's sharp teeth closed around his arm and with a gruesome snarl, it tore cloth and flesh like water. Hibiki smiled, even though he endangered himself by saving his brother, and stabbed forward; blood splattered all over his face. He gave a strangled gasp. One of the chimeras had landed on him and savagely bit into him.

"What the-" Just when he was about to pummel the snake-mixed creature, there was a guttural snarling and the chimera quickly twisted away to join the rest as they all backed away to a side. Hibiki saw his brother running past him in the opposite direction to the chimeras. He didn't understand until he saw that his brother was chasing a dark-cloaked figure and ran after the two, quickly catching up and tackling the stranger. With a grunted, the person fell to the ground, but slithered out of Hibiki's grasp only to have their arms locked behind them by Genji. It was writhing madly, but Genji held fast, his face set in a grim line. The thing kept on twisting and writhing to free itself, and Genji let it run out of energy, but soon Genji began losing energy and it ran away before he could be a better grip onto it. They both immediately followed it to the edge of a cliff face. It whirled around to have a metal fist barely missing its head. It grabbed the arm and jerked so Hibiki stumbled. Genji aimed a punch at the thing, but the target ducked and swept a foot under so Genji tripped. Hibiki landed a punch from the back and the thing staggered a few paces before running straight to the edge of the cliff and jumping. Snarling, Hibiki followed suite. Genji, in his despair, jumped after them.

I know its a bit short, but please to patient with me. If you have any comments, complaints, ideas, confusions, questions, etc., just review and type away! Please review and thank you for reading this!

-Dark Reborn


	11. Chapter 10

To all my readers, there's some bad news and some good news:

To all my readers, there's some bad news and some good news:

I'm very sorry, but this story is discontinued. I just can't write anymore. T.T

Scroll down for the good news. It's _**really**_ good.

Ok, here's the good news:

April Fools Day! O.o I was just kidding! But please please forgive me if you're mad at me for the trick. Just review and say what was good, bad, what could do with more improvement, etc. Pretty please? .

Happy April Fools Day!

-Dark Reborn


	12. Chapter 11

Sorry for the long wait (again)

Sorry for the long wait (again)! T.T I just seem to be absorbed in reading other people's stories that I don't work on my own story! I can't help it! They're all soo good, and when I think about mine, it's so horrid! But I am working on it; little by little. I'm considering starting another story. The other story that was being worked on earlier wasn't published and won't because I got frustrated at the computer because it erased the file for the hundredth time. That also happened with this fic, but the only reason I haven't ripped my hair out of their roots is because of my back-up files. Anyway, sorry for the rambling, err…I forgot what I had to say. Oh, and I'm on spring break now so I might be able to update faster, but I might get stuck to reading other peoples stories so I might not. Ehehehe, sorry. I'm not sure if that was the thing I forgot. Oops! I'm rambling again! On with the story. Here's chapter 11! (finally)

Thank you for reviewing:

Illidan the Half Demon

oOo

Hibiki groaned as he licked his dry, chapped lips. He looked up at the sky, and then his head hit against the piece of wood with a loud _thunk_. He was getting sick to the color. He was surrounded by who-knows-how-many-miles for day up and down, and to the sides. He saw a tiny brown speck at the distance, but didn't even bat an eyelid at it. How many times were the blasted hallucinations going to taunt him, over and over again? He sighed as he leaned his head on a piece of wood that he and his brother salvaged as it floated by. What happened when he jumped off that cliff? His memory was groggy. With a yawn, he settled his head on the piece of wood and hooded his eyes.

Days or moments later, he was faintly aware of a loud shout, water splashing, and being picked up. He tried to tell them to get his brother too, but his arms felt like lead at his side and did nothing. Sensing his brother getting rescued too, he stopped fighting for consciousness and entered the soft, comforting void of sleep.

oOo

The first thing Genji was aware of when he was awake was that he no longer was floating, but settled firmly on a bed. Panic quickly came, but he compressed it and explored his surroundings with all of his senses except sight. He felt the coarseness from the bed and blanket under and on, heard low quiet voices, and smelled the tang of medicine. Realizing he was in no danger, since he identified the voices to be Fuhrer Mustang and General Hawkeye. He slowly got up from his bed, wincing from the suddenly light and pain and noticing the IV in his arm. His commanding officer was immediately at his side.

"Genji, how are you feeling? What happened? You and your brother were missing for a week." All Genji could manage was rasp out. "Oh, sorry." Riza handed him a glass of cold water. He slowly took sips. His throat felt raw and sore.

"I-I don't know." That was true. He couldn't remember. It was all a vague memory to him. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm thankful you had time to visit me with your busy schedule. How is my brother?" Genji hurriedly asked.

"Your brother is fine, just suffering from a few broken ribs, fractured ankle, and a broken arm. Oh, and by the way, how did your brother get his automail?" Genji immediately sensed danger.

"He lost it in a train accident three years ago." He said softly. The Fuhrer, taking the softness for uneasiness and sensitivity to revealing extremely personal information to people they didn't know very well, none the less the Fuhrer, their commanding officer! He patted his subordinate on the shoulder gently and said, "Just focus on healing."

"Where's my brother?"

"He's in the other room. He hasn't wakened yet, but the doctors are expecting him to do so any moment now." Roy's voice was so full of sincerity and confidence that Genji didn't pursue the subject further.

Roy closed the door and stood out of Genji's room.

"Sir, you didn't tell that little boy the truth about his brother." Riza said, not even looking to her side where Roy was. He sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair.

"How can I possibly tell him? He's just woken up in critical health condition. His body was lacking so many nutrients. If I tell him now, his reaction could prove disastrous to his health."

Flashback

"_Fuhrer sir, it appears that the younger one is just suffering from a lack of nutrients. However," the doctor's face was troubled. "the older one has a severe case of blood loss and seems to have a few broken ribs and a broken arm."_

"_That doesn't seem to bad." Riza commented._

"_But the worst yet is that one of his wounds is dangerously infected. I'm not sure if he'll survive. Especially with a fever." Roy's eyebrow drew together. _

"_Are you absolutely sure? What are the chances of survival?" At that question, the doctor turned his back around, not facing them._

"_Eighty-nine percent of death, and twenty-one chance of survival. Very high and low figures."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_One-hundred percent."_

Flashback

oOo

Yep! That's chapter 11! Review? Please? Onegai? (please in Japanese)

-Dark Reborn


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